


canned heat

by thisisgermy



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: ?? - Freeform, Airplane Crashes, Bad Puns, F/F, Fluff, Headcanon, hildas life story i guess??, i honestly dont know its just gay, its me of course theres puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 00:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12876516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisgermy/pseuds/thisisgermy
Summary: hilda likes the sky. she also likes the sea, but probably not for the common reasons.





	canned heat

**Author's Note:**

> me, not knowing anything about cuphead bosses personalities or how to develop them: i want to write about cuphead bosses  
> i did a bare amount of research on 30s airplanes so forgive me for that, i sorta stuck sonic rushs ost on and just free wrote which is something i barely ever do  
> pf take this as you will

there was once a lady called hilda berg, who loved the sky and the stars and her rickety old airplane.

 

she would say her love for the consolations and mechanics of planes came from her father, who had bought her a toy model and a book all about the wonders of space. she instantly fell in love with the words, finding it a marvel of wonders, and he would read her the book every night by her request. she wouldn't care that it was their tenth re-read in a single week. by the age of four, she had every planet and star memorized, and she could tell you the names in order whether you had asked for the information or not.

 

her love of planes came just a few years later, when she really started to pay attention on how they functioned. hilda had tried many times to take the toy model apart to see the inner workings, but her father told her how expensive the wired models were, and that if she broke it too much, she wouldn't be getting another one. but that didn't discourage her, and she managed to take it apart anyway, much to her fathers dismay. she didn't learn too much that way, but she did find the different coloured wires and cogs within the model fascinating.

 

later, when she got a small job at a flower shop, she saved up for a book all about the touchy work of mechanics that school had failed to teach her. she learnt a lot more things with her new book; about how fast planes could go, how many different types of planes existed, what the different functions did, how to program and repair the wings and turbines, and how to look after such a delicate craft. there was even some stuff on blimps that managed to pique her interest. 

 

the next year, with much more knowledge and information on both planes and space, her father took her to pick out her very own flyer. the one she spotted out, a douglas o-46, was already old, broken and in heavy disrepair, with peeling paint and rusted wings and a moth eaten seat. her father warned her of the expenses, of the safety of putting trust in such an old thing, but she was determined to love it back to working order. and to this day, hilda would say that it was still the best decision of her life.

 

she put all of her waking hours into repairing the hefty flyer. the engine was probably the hardest thing to fix, since switching out an old to new engine was as hard as licking your elbow. luckily for hilda, she knew connections and friendly friends, and they were more than willing to help her out! the wings were next, followed by the wheels, all of the control buttons and knobs and switches and pedals, and finally, the rusted blades, with all of the tricky re-wiring to boot. she was extremely thankful that she had such nice people and helpful tools by her side. she would say how she wasn't " **winging it** " with such tedious works, and she'd get a soft swat from her father.

 

and thus, after many months of fiddling and repairing, her dream had finally come true. with a few touch ups and interior designs, she could finally give it a test ride. hilda had read plenty on how to ride a plane, on what to do if something went wrong and how to safely eject, so really, how hard could it be? her father gave her a flight helmet and a parachute as her gifts, and a kiss on the forehead with a gentle "please fly safe". he was beyond proud.

 

and on her first ever flight, she flew beautifully.

 

sure, it was bumpy and slow, and the turning was a tad on the stiff side, but she was so high up. she could see every bit of inkwell in one gaze; from the phantom express train to the hell casino, all in one view if she got high enough. she could see every colour of the sky so much clearer, and she could see the stars so much closer in her airplane than she ever could on the ground. her heart was bursting with a pure joy, adrenaline coursing through her veins as she tested out the pedals and knobs, and she didn't ever want to land. seeing inkwell so small and far away made her head spin, and to hilda, it felt almost addictive. she never wanted the trip to end.

 

every day, she took great care with her plane. she oiled it, cleaned it, dusted it, checked it and then checked it twice. sometimes her poor father had to drag her away from the thing just to make sure she was eating and sleeping properly. every repair and add on came from her own pocket, but her father helped out too, out of the kindness of his own heart. 

 

there was a whole year of peaceful flying. hilda had seen every part of inkwell ten times over; she could describe the colours and the environment as clear as day if you asked her where a place was. her joy was contagious, and she never seemed to have a downer day so long as she could fly her slow plane for an hour or two. she'd even took her father on trips sometimes! he didn't seem to like the height.

 

one week, it was raining. storming, even. her father had advised her not to go out, but it had been storming for three days straight, and she was growing restless. even her space and plane books weren't enough to tide her over. she'd dismantled and put together her toy model at least five times in just one hour. she _had_ to fly, else she'd lose her mind.

 

hilda took the heavy plane out. checked every inch of it before hand to make sure it was in working order. then she took off, ignoring her father entirely. as soon as she hit the rocky air, her restlessness had disappeared, and she finally felt alive again.

 

she couldn't tell where she was going with the thick blockage of deep grey clouds, but she didn't mind. the rain was like a waterfall on the little glass helmet of the douglas, but she could just about see through the drops, so it didn't bother her. the lightning crashes were big and flashy, enough to strain her eyes, but she could still stir and control the little craft, so she didn't care. she could feel the wind intrude her space, and she could feel that it was throwing her off balance of a straight line, but still, she powered on.

 

she started to hear weird noises, ones she hadn't heard on her trips before. then again, she'd never flown in the rain before. it barely ever rained in inkwell. it was a new experience. she wasn't clear on where she was, and she had no sense of direction. she suddenly didn't feel too comfortable being in the air, even though the skies were like her second home.

 

something was wrong.

 

the weird noises came out as a deep spluttering from the engine, and she felt a panic kick in. she didn't know exactly where she was, her plane was breaking down and she couldn't locate a part of inkwell to safely land, and it wasn't like she could eject in the middle of a storm. being outside would be just as dangerous as inside the plane.

 

lightning crashed far too close to her, which made her harshly turn the wheel. she felt the craft spin, and could faintly smell smoke before she heard an ear splitting crash. then she blacked out. was blacked out for a while, or at least she guessed she had been.

 

she woke up to a blurry face staring down at her. a very big one. she couldn't feel her legs at all, which was odd, and her head felt like it was swimming.

 

'-you are awake! my gosh, i was so worried! i thought you would not wake up again!' the face spoke, and hilda could see two faces? one had x's for eyes, though, so that couldn't be right. 'are you alright? you **washed up** pretty rough there! i am glad you landed close to the sea, though. you were crushed inside of the plane, so i removed you and put you here. i hope you do not mind!' it was then that hilda felt a very sharp, very clear pain spike in her legs. both of her legs. everything seemed to come back to her in HD - the face belonged to a mermaid, one with a dead squid as brushed back hair, and she was very very large. she was pretty, and through the tears, hilda felt her heart spark like she was in the air again.

 

'oh my! you are crying!' two giant, clawed hands rose up to her own cheeks, and her skin looked bumpy. her eyes were creased with worry, lips pursed. hilda had never loved a sight more than the skies before, but she was certainly revising her love category with such a sight as her. she wondered if that was the pains fault, that she was feeling such things. '... hmm, on second thought, i guess having being squashed in a plane is not  _too_ comfy, huh? that was a pretty heavy thing! ... wait, i know! i-i will call for help! someone will know what to do!'

 

hilda noticed that it wasn't raining anymore. she felt cold, and soaked, and the sky was clear now, streaked in reds and oranges and yellows, almost like a fire had been lit in the clouds. the pretty mermaid lady had disappeared, and the pain was killing her, and she couldn't stop the tears and she couldn't think or form words.

 

she woke up in a hospital. the mermaid lady was gone. she saw her father standing beside her bed with a wet face. he said she'd be walking with crutches, and that she was really lucky to even _have_ her legs at all. her plane was beyond repair, the nose crushed in completely. he said they found her all the way in inkwell isle 3, and that was a pretty long way from her isle 1 home.

 

he said she couldn't fly again. she was heart broken.

 

the next few months were agonizing for hilda, both in physical and mental pain.

 

she had no plane, no ways of getting into the sky, no way of seeing inkwell from above anymore. she couldn't move five feet without aching, without requiring help. she felt confined and trapped, with little way to free herself, and she despised it. she was desperate for an escape, desperate to fly again, desperate to see the mermaid lady that had saved her.

 

desperate enough to see the devil.

 

she'd snuck out. it took a long time to get there. by then, everyone had heard her story, and she knew that one tell of her desired destination would be the end of her dream for good for a second time. she had to take many breaks on her trip, a sweat down her back and a buzz in her head, but even with her drawbacks, she'd somehow made it. even if she'd set out by morning and it was dusk, hilda had still made it to the devils casino; on her own, not to mention.

 

king dice seemed delighted by her arrival, and even helped her in to the devils room himself. skeletons and ghouls watched her go, but she ignored them and their pitiful gazes.

 

the ordeal was quick.

 

'i beg of you, please let me fly again. i can't handle being down here, i _need_ the sky. i will do anything, devil. i will even give you my soul.'

 

'well ain't you in luck. hey, i'm feelin' generous today - i'll give ya new legs, and a surprise to boot! hows that for a high flyer?' next thing she knew, she was signing a piece of paper, and then she'd blacked out. 

 

wasn't it her surprise that when hilda woke up in her own bed, her legs actually felt real, and she could become a blimp now. and mythical beings with an explosion of a star constellation. and the _literal moon_. the devil wasn't kidding about those surprises. yeah, the entire "selling your soul" thing had been worth it.

 

it hadn't been _exactly_ what she'd asked for. she thought she'd get another plane or something, not become an _actual craft_. still, she wasn't complaining - she could control her own flight, her speed, her direction and even her form. and hey, being a moon wasn't so bad. you grew a few pimples and your nose got a bit sharper, but it was still a good time. hilda could moon everyone and not get yelled at.

 

of course her father wasn't best pleased, but he saw reason in the end that his daughter was finally happy again. even if she did do a deal with the devil. hilda would never hear the end of that one.

 

she traveled over to the pretty mermaid lady again one day, after allowing her father time to absorb the information and a few test runs of her new form. her legs were put to good use now, almost as if the devil was reminding her that they worked. it was still weird, using clouds as a make shift helium and pedaling to both keep your height up and yourself moving instead of pushing down a single pedal. it wasn't what she was used to at all, plus the wind on her face felt far too unnatural at such heights. it was things to get used to, she guessed.

 

but hilda saw her playing on the surface with an old turtle, and it felt like she was laying down on the wooden dock staring up at her all over again. only this time, she was above, and she wasn't in pain, but her heart felt like it was dancing, and her cheeks were heating up, and now the mermaid was looking right at her, and she was grinning and waving and she suddenly lost all ability to speak-

 

'ah, it is you! i am glad to see you are ok! but, you are a blimp now ...?'

 

'y-yes!' she blurted too quickly. 'i, i'm inflated with clouds now! it's v-very useful, but i came here to talk to- to say thank- t-to see you again!' she knew she'd royally screwed up, but the lady giggled, and the corner of her bulbous eyes crinkled, and her teeth were as sharp as her claws, and hilda couldn't get enough. her pedaling became faster and she rose higher in the sky and she couldn't help it.

 

'i just wanted t-to say thanks for helping me. y'know, sa-saving me and calling for help. you really **lifted** me up.' she actually _laughed_. no one had  _actually_ laughed at her puns before.

 

'well, i am glad you are in **high spirits** again! i am very happy to see you are well. my name is cala!'

 

hilda could see herself coming back to the ocean a lot more.


End file.
